


The Beginning

by yourfavoritewriter



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: Eventual Fluff, Eventual Smut, F/M, Feels, Fluff, Gen, Implied Relationships, Legends/EU and "Cannon" Mix, Multiple Timelines, Pre-Relationship, everyone has baggage, new characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-14 22:49:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15399246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourfavoritewriter/pseuds/yourfavoritewriter
Summary: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...Callista was her own person, had been for years since the death of her parents, bouncing from foster home to foster home.  She grew up to be a responsible adult, even though some of her activities could be described as "shady."One day everything is turned upside down as she is hurled into a world she doesn't know.  She realizes that this new world holds secrets, even secrets about her.  Can she uncover the secrets of her past and discover who she truly is?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Jedi Master Laore and Commander Raymus are fighting in the Clone Wars.
> 
> Order 66 is issued, and all hell breaks loose.
> 
> This is my first "published" fan fic, so I'm rather nervous - I hope you all like it! Please leave me comments - whether good or bad. I look forward to your feedback! Also, let me know if you have any questions
> 
> This first chapter takes place during the end of the Clone Wars in the Star Wars timeline.

_Commander Raymus watched the female Jedi Master-turned-general across the briefing table from him as she gave her briefing._

_"Our last intel shows the Separatist army here," the Jedi Master pointed to a forested area on the holo-proj map.  "We'll land here.  Commander Bren, your squadron will come in from the northeast; here.  Commander Raymus, your squadron will come in from the south east; here.  I will accompany your squadron."_

_Raymus was the commander of one of the units of Clone Troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic sent to reclaim the planet Kaller from the detachment of the Droid Army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, more commonly known as Separatists.  Their battalion was one of the few that had been blessed with the assigning of a Jedi as their general, and that is the role that Master Udykr Laore played._

_Master Laore finished the briefing of their planned attack to take back the planet that was still several parsecs away from them, but only a couple standard hours via lightspeed.  “Commander Raymus, are you and your men ready?”_

_“My men are ready, Master Laore,” Commander Raymus replied.  He knew that, like the other Jedi, Master Laore had reluctantly accepted the call to become a general over the clone troopers in the Grand Army of the Republic, but he and the others with him had come to feel like they weren’t just his troops, but hers as well._

_The Jedi General nodded.  “Good.  We’ll finish final preparations and begin the assault as soon as we come out of hyperspace.”  Master Laore shut off the holo-projector on the table in front of them and left the briefing room._

_.             .             ._

_The room they were meeting in was dimly lit, and the only other consciousness in the room with them was the medical droid they had also known to trust and respect.  It had, in its own way, developed a more natural, more human-like personality – if it could be said for a droid to have one – over the years, and therefore could understand the plight of the Clones._

_They had heard the rumors of what had been found inside one of the other Clones on the other side of the galaxy.  He had executed the Jedi in charge of his unit, and that led to an investigation, which led to the revealing of an inhibitor chip lodged in his brain.  The Commander and the other clones in his unit couldn’t stand the idea of someone else being able to tell them what to do or having limits on what they couldn’t do.  They didn’t want to think of the consequences if their chip malfunctioned, or worse, if it were to be used against them._

_Through their time together – almost 2 and an half years – Commander Raymus and the Clones under him had grown closer to Master Laore, had grown to trust her and follow her unquestionably.  This made the decision of Commander Raymus and the other clones seem almost like second nature._

_“So, we’re all agreed then?”  Commander Raymus asked._

_The men in his unit nodded._

_“Alright.  I’ll go first.  Seven?”  The Commander stood and motioned for his second-in-command to follow him over to the surgical table on the other side of the room, where the droid waited for him.  “Seven, if something goes wrong, I need you to give this to Master Laore.  Can you do that?”  He handed the clone known as Seven a memory chip._

_“I can.  You just make sure nothing goes wrong,” Seven said looking at his Commander, but mostly talking to the droid._

_“Don’t worry.  Remember that I am programmed to perform over one-hundred – “_

_“Yes, we know.  Thank you, Axle,” Commander Raymus said, calling the droid by the nickname they had come to give it._

_The droid Axle floated next to the table with a small syringe.  “Now hold still.  This won’t hurt a bit,” he said, in that cheery voice that medical personnel had when they were about to do something that hurt a lot, and that made Commander Raymus always cringe a little.  “This won’t take very long,” Axle said.  “You’ll only be out for a few minutes.”_

_“Good, because we’ve got that final briefing to get to,” Commander Raymus replied._

_The needle of the syringe was stuck into the side of the Commander’s neck, and Seven helped him lay back onto the table.  Commander Raymus faded into darkness, but not before thinking of her._

_.             .             ._

_Master Laore walked through the halls of the ship to her quarters after completing the last briefing before their assault.  She had stopped at the hangar bay to make sure everything they would need was being loaded onto the ships in preparation, and now was headed to do her own preparations.  Before every battle, she sat and meditated in her quarters, letting the Force flow through her, becoming one with the Force and everything around her._

_Reaching her quarters, she hit the controls to open her door, then walked in to her bunk, and sat on it.  Sometimes she missed her room at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant – the room she had to practice her various fighting stances, to stretch and work out, and most of all, the actual bed that was there.  Something told her that after this mission, they would be done, and then, maybe, she would be able to go back there and finally get a good night’s sleep._

_Master Laore positioned herself on her bunk so that her legs were crossed, her hands resting softly on her knees, and her lightsaber sitting next to her.  For several moments, she breathed deep, letting everything flow, focusing on the calm around her._

_There came a knock on her door, and she moved to answer it.  On the other side stood Raymus.  Udykr moved to the side and welcomed him in._

_Once inside, Raymus wrapped his arms around her, and held her close._

_“Raymus, are you alright?  I didn’t get to see you after your procedure until the briefing, but you seemed so distant.”_

_“Yes, I’m fine, my love.  Axle seems to have done a fantastic job with all of us.  And what’s more, he’s doing an even better job of keeping our procedures secret.”_

_Udykr breathed a sigh of relief._

_“I’m sorry I didn’t come see you afterwards, wife.  I wanted to, but was so lightheaded and odd feeling, I knew I wouldn’t be able to be sure that no one followed me, so I went to my quarters and slept to make sure I was fully aware for the briefing,” Raymus explained._

_“It’s alright, I understand.  A procedure like that I’m sure would make anyone feel at odds.  Did Axle find a chip?”_

_“Yes.  We all had one,” Raymus said, upset.  He removed from his pouch on his belt a clear chip with what looked like a small patch of some kind of organic material in the middle of it.  “This was what we had in our head.  Axle said it looks like an organic chip built out of cells of some kind.  There’s no telling what it was meant for, but if it is what caused Tup to kill Jedi General Tiplar, then I don’t want it in my head running the risk of me doing that to you every second of every day.”_

_Udykr nodded seriously.  She had been the one to deliver the news to Raymus of Jedi Master Tiplar’s death at the hand of one of his Clones, accompanied by the rumor of a chip inside the heads of the Clones, and that brought with it a whole slew of questions and conspiracy theories.  She and Raymus had discussed the possibility of he and the others also having one of those chips in their heads, and if so, all of the possible outcomes that could come with it, Raymus ultimately deciding it was for the best that he take the risk and have the chip removed.  The risk was enormous – the rumor also was that as soon as Tup had had his inhibitor chip removed, he’d died, so there was also speculation that these chips were somehow tied to their body’s natural life-support._

_“Udykr, I think this only solidifies more what we’ve been planning.  I know you don’t want to leave the Order, but if they were to – “_

_“If they were to discover us, I would be banned from the Order despite everything.  I know.  And you’re right – there’s something not right about these inhibitor chips, there’s something more behind them.  Master Tiplar’s death only confirms that more.  I have this foreboding sense when I try to glance into the future.  I see darkness, pain, suffering…death…massacre.  There is something more at work here.  We have to leave.  As soon as the war is over, we will leave.”_

_Raymus nodded slowly and in full agreement._

_.             .             ._

_Master Laore and Commander Raymus moved cautiously through one of the many vast forests on Kaller, accompanied by his unit of a dozen men.  They patrolled the area – Commander Raymus and the Clones keeping their head on a swivel, Master Laore reaching out through the Force to feel anything she could ahead of them.  They had not yet come into contact with the Separatists, but knew they were close, and that they would be even more confused and most likely disheveled now – just before they left their base ship, Master Laore had received word that General Grievous had been killed during the Battle of Utapau by Master Kenobi._

_Commander Raymus’ communicator went off, indicating that he had a message in-coming.  He moved off from the group and lifted his holo-proj communicator.  The blue image of the man he knew as Chancellor Palpatine crackled through._

_“Commander Raymus.”  Palpatine’s voice seamed grainy and coarse, not its usual fluid and charming demeaner.  “Execute Order 66.”_

_Commander Raymus nodded.  “Yes, my lord.”  He shut off his communicator and replaced it on his belt.  Order 66?  What in the galaxy is that?  Commander Raymus wondered.  He had a bad feeling, as he turned to rejoin the others._

_After they’d gone several klicks, they were joined by another unit of Clones._

_Commander Raymus began to tense up a little.  What are they doing here?  This wasn’t part of the plan.  He looked to his left and could see that Udykr was feeling the same way – her hand tightening on her lightsaber._

_The troops that had joined them, moved in just behind Master Laore._

_Commander Raymus moved closer to her side._

_The new Clones slowly raised their blasters and aimed them Master Laore._

_They fired._

_Commander Raymus yelled._

_.             .             ._

_The cell was dark and cold.  And solitary.  Raymus had denied an order from the now-emperor.  He had failed to stop the traitorous Jedi and was therefore being held to stand trial for treason, at least that was the official reason given to the public and to the rest of the Grand Army of the Galactic Empire.  The real reason he was being held? – Jedi Master Laore would come for him, Emperor Palpatine and his new apprentice, Darth Vader, were sure of it._

_.             .             ._

_The sound of blaster fire sounded down the hall, accompanied by shouting and the screaming of men dying._

_This sound had always haunted Raymus, as it was the same sound of his own voice, and he wondered if that would be what he would sound like when his own time came.  For now, though, he had to ignore that – the sounds of fighting were coming closer to his cell.  He backed into the corner farthest from the door and waited._

_The door to his cell burst open, and Udykr rushed through.  She threw a blaster to Raymus and nodded, and they both ran from the cell, into the hall, and out into the fray._

_.             .             ._

_They had made it onto their ship, had taken off just as Darth Vader was beginning to emerge onto the scene of their escape from the Jedi Temple, had fought their way off of Coruscant, and were now on their third drop from hyperspace.  Their trip hadn’t been easy – ships from the Imperial Navy had followed them every step of the way, like they had known what the two were planning.  The pair dropped out of hyperspace to find that not only were they being followed, but a small fleet of ships awaited them._

_“You’ve got to be kidding me!”  Raymus shouted as he saw the battleships before their tiny, poorly armed freighter._

_They were near the Maw Cluster, a series of black holes near the mining planet Kessel.  Udykr had theorized that they could use the black holes to sling shot them across space, cutting their distance in half, and landing them outside of the galaxy, where they could then be free to find a place to live in peace.  They hadn’t intended to carry their escape this far initially – they just simply wanted to get away and be together – but now that they were fleeing for their lives, Master Laore had had to take drastic measures._

_“Raymus, I need you to get on the guns,” she said, as she sped the ship closer to The Maw, punching controls on the console in front of her.  “I’m going as fast as I can, but we’re still going to be an easy target for those battleships.”_

_Raymus ran down the short hall and climbed the ladder to the turret on the top of the ship.  He began firing at the fighters streaming out from the battleships and racing towards them._

_Time seemed to speed up, as they were rocked and bumped, thrown this way and that, caught between laser blasts hitting their shields, and the pull of the vast black holes.  Raymus hoped this would work._

_“No.  No, no, no, no.  No!”  Udykr’s voice cried out.  “Raymus!”  She screamed.  She got up from her seat in the cockpit and began running down the hall to the turret, but time around her seemed to drag.  Udykr turned her head as she ran to look out the cockpit viewport behind her and could have sworn she saw the image of herself running extended behind her.  She turned to face the hall she was running down._

_Raymus looked out through the window of the turret, and saw the familiar stars begin to disappear, replaced by blackness.  He started to get up from the turret and climb down the ladder, but his movements seemed to drag.  He felt the ship begin to take off at an alarming rate._

_“No!”  Master Laore’s voice echoed._

_Then…nothing._

 

.             .             .

 

“No!”  A little girl screamed as she shot up in bed, her small fist clutching her necklace that hung around her neck.

The light in the hall outside of her room turned on, and her mother turned the doorknob, opening her door.  “Sweetie, what’s wrong?”

“That dream again, mommy,” the little girl cried, holding her arms out to her mom as the woman sat on the edge of the bed.

“Oh, sweetheart,” her mother said as she cradled the little toddler in her arms.  “It’s alright.  It was just a dream, nothing more.  Shhh…  It was just a dream.”  The young mother looked at the long necklace hanging around her daughter’s neck.  “Let’s take this off, honey, you know it’s too big and you shouldn’t be wearing it anyway.  We’ll wait until you’re older,” she said as she removed the necklace from around her daughter’s neck and put it around her own.  She quietly soothed her daughter’s tears, as she rocked her back to sleep, then tucked her in and closed the door as she exited the room.


	2. Chapter One: Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callista was her own person, had been for years since the death of her parents, bouncing from foster home to foster home. She grew up to be a responsible adult, even some of her activities could be described as "shady" - work, college, more work.
> 
> A huge storm hits, and everything changes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Setting the scene with this chapter.
> 
> This is technically the first chapter of this work. Hope you all like it!

Engines revved.  Two drivers sat behind the wheel of their respective cars.  They turned and looked at each other, one wearing a helmet that covered their face.  One of the cars was a blue Nissan GT-R, the other a black modified 1989 Chevy Camaro RS Z28.

On the sides, people hollered and cheered.  Bets and money were exchanged.

A man walked in front of the cars, stopping in the middle.  “Racers ready?”  He yelled.  He pointed to one driver then the next, each nodding their head.  He pointed to a girl to his right standing on the sidelines.

“Ready,” she said.

He pointed to a girl to his left standing on the sidelines.

“Set,” the girl said.

“Go!”  He yelled to the racers.

The two cars sped off with a loud squeal of rubber against the pavement.  Both started out well, accelerating rapidly.  Then the GT-R began to slowly pull away from the other vehicle.  The driver of the GT-R saw an empty metal barrel in the middle of the track and had the thought of knocking it into the path of his competitor, but then thought better of it.  He knew that this other driver had a reputation for having some of the fastest reflexes anyone had ever seen, sometimes almost like they knew what was going to happen before it did, which he thought gave them an unfair advantage at times.  He sped past the barrel, focusing more on winning with just the sheer talent he had, and the upgrades he had installed. People all down the track screamed in excitement as the cars raced by.  The Nissan’s driver hit the red button on the side of his steering wheel, sending his NOS into the engine.  The GT-R shot off, his lead increasing exponentially.  He let out a _Whoop!_

The driver of the Camaro smiled smugly under the helmet.  “Too early.”

With less than a quarter-mile left to go in the race, the driver of the Camaro flipped up the top of the e-brake and hit the red button hidden underneath, shooting the NOS into the engine.  The Camaro shot off, closing the gap between the two cars quickly.

The driver of the GT-R, who was celebrating a little prematurely, looked to his side as he saw the black car fly past him.  “No!”  He hit his steering wheel in frustration.

The RS Z28 shot across the finish line, over a full car’s length ahead of the blue Nissan.

Both cars screeched to a halt, and crowds rushed to the Camaro, surrounding it.  They cheered and _whooped_ while the engines of the car shut off.  The victorious driver opened the door and got out, fists in the air triumphantly.  The driver removed the helmet and shook her long auburn locks loose, save those that were braided and crisscrossed intricately over the top of her head.  She was anything but what you’d expect when looking at a street-racer.  She was dressed in black flare jeans with a silver chain hanging from the back of her waist to the front, paired with black converse and a black shirt, black cat-style eyeliner with red eye shadow.

“Yeah!”  The champion driver shouted as she thrust her helmet into the air in celebration.  One of her friends walked out of the crowd and took her free hand in his, pulling her in for a hug.  They patted each other on the back and she pulled back so they could grin at each other victoriously.

The crowd moved in a little closer, another man making his way out of it now.  He had a cocky smile on his face as he approached the victorious driver.  “Hey, baby.  You uh, drive pretty well.  How about we take a drive.”  He waggled an eyebrow at her.

“Sorry, but I’m not your baby.  And, thanks, but no thanks,” the winner replied.

The driver of the other car walked over to her.  He didn’t look forward to this, but a deal was a deal.  “Good race,” he said, holding out the keys to his car.

She smiled at him.  “You too, man.  Hey, no hard feelings?”  She held out her hand and he dropped his keys into it.

“No hard feelings.”

“Better luck next time.”  She clapped him on the shoulder, then turned away and left him standing there feeling beaten, but amazed that he had actually gotten the chance to race the girl everyone talked about.  She threw the keys to her friend.  “Mark, you drive it back to the garage for me?”

“You got it, babe.”  Mark went over to the car and jumped in.

Another man walked up to the female driver.  He handed her a wad of cash rolled up.  “Good job, Jade,” he said, calling her by the name they all knew and loved her by.

“Thanks, T.”  She grinned as she accepted the cash, the thrill and adrenaline of the race still coursing through her, then climbed in her car.  With a roar of the engine she drove away and was gone.

 

.             .             .

 

The Camaro pulled into a garage, next to the newly-won Nissan GT-R.  The driver turned off the engine and got out.  She smiled at her good ol’ Camaro and she burned with pride.  She patted it on the hood and walked over to her waiting friend Mark.

“You know, Callista,” he said, calling her by her first name, which few people in the street racing world new, “you’re gonna’ have to figure out what to do with all of these cars you’re winning.”  Mark gestured to the three other cars already sitting in the garage from previous races won over the last few months in addition to the Nissan she had just won that night.

Callista looked at them all.  They were great cars, each one different and special in its’ own way.  All of them had been modified in some way or another that gave them that special feel, but all of them paled in comparison to her beautiful Camaro, _Midnight_.  “Well, you can do whatever you’d like with them, honestly Mark.  Sell them, use them for parts.  I don’t care.  I got the prize money and my _Midnight_ , I’m good,” Callista said tossing the wad of cash into the air and catching it in her hand and patted her beloved car again.  She had worked so hard to earn the money to buy this car, and even harder to afford the modifications she had put into it to make it the best car.  A sense of pride welled up in her.  Callista walked over to a table where her bag was sitting and shoved the money in it.  “Except the Nissan, that’s already promised to a friend.  Just make sure it’s in perfect working order, please.  And make sure to pull out the NOS system completely, ok?  However, if you do sell the others, at least cut me in on a little of the profit, huh?”  She chuckled and unzipped her black leather jacket, took off her matching gloves and put them into the bag as well, followed by the keys to the Camaro.

Mark laughed at her.  “Sounds good, girl.”

Callista looked up as she heard footsteps come clanking down the metal staircase to the garage from the office above.  “Hey,” she said cheerfully to the girl who walked down towards her.  “Well,” Callista turned to the blue Nissan, “what do you think of your new car?”

“Awesome.  Thanks, Callista,” the girl said.

“No problem, Niki.  You’ve been needing one, and I’m getting tired of having to drive you everywhere in mine.  Remember, though, if your aunt asks I bought it, okay?”  Callista laughed.

“Uh-huh sure,” Niki layered on the sarcasm.

“Come on,” Callista chuckled.  “Let’s get you home.”  Callista put on the black military-style jacket that had been sitting on the table next to her bag, grabbed another set of keys from one of the pockets of the bag, and walked with the bag slung over her shoulder to a silver car waiting for her on the other side of the garage.

“See you tomorrow, Mark” the girls called out and waved as they got in the car and slowly drove out.

“So, Niki, how’s school going?”  Callista asked the young girl after they got onto the road.

Niki sighed.  “You know, it’s school.  High school, even, which is worse.”

“Oh, come on,” Callista said as she drove along down the road.  “It can’t be all that bad.”

“Well, it is,” Niki complained.

“Hey,” Callista stopped at a red light and turned to look at her young friend.  “I loved my time in high school.  I wish that I had realized then that I would miss it as much as I do now so I could have enjoyed it and loved it more, and realized what I had.  Instead, I was so ready to be out of that house and gone, like you’re feeling now.  Enjoy it while you can, because, believe me girl, college is no walk in the park.”  She looked at the light and accelerated the car slowly as it turned green.

“Yeah, okay,” Niki rolled her eyes.  She immediately felt a stab of guilt for that comment.

“I’m serious!  One day you’re at home with your family, and going to school, the next they’re gone and you’re on your own.”

“Yeah, but you did alright for yourself,” Niki said.  Again, she felt guilt.  She knew how hard it had been for Callista after the accident, and she knew Callista was just trying to look out for her.

Niki thought back to when Callista had first moved into the neighborhood with her new foster family.  Callista was quiet, and mostly kept to herself, until one day when she was coming home late from school and saw Niki getting beaten up in an alleyway near the school by the girls in the local gang because she had told them she wanted out.  The then-late-teens Callista – as headstrong, protective, and determined to stand up to unjustness as ever – had thrown her bag on the ground, ran over, grabbing a long branch on her way.  She gave the five girls a sound beating using the branch and her fists, sending them running.  Niki remembered laying on the ground half-awake watching everything unfold in front of her – Callista a flash of red hair, long black coat, and fury – before she passed out.  Niki remembered later waking up on Callista’s back, being piggy-backed back into their neighborhood and to the home Niki shared with her aunt.  That had been three years ago, and they had been the closest of friends ever since.  More than that, really, they had become family.  Everyone thought the tough punk goth girl with fiery red hair intense and scary, so they generally avoided her at all costs, but Niki knew better and clung to her ever since that day.

“Yes, but that’s because I worked hard and studied.”  Callista snapped Niki back to attention.  She knocked her fingers on the teenager’s head.  “You have a beautiful brain.  You’re one of the smartest in your class.  Put that knowledge to good use, okay?  You’re a junior, get it into gear before it’s too late.”

Niki sighed.  She knew she couldn’t disappoint her.  “Okay.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then.  Show me what you can do.  Impress me, like I know you can,” Callista said with a warm smile.

Niki laughed.  “I’m lucky to have you in my life.  You’re like a big sister to me.”

Callista looked at Niki and smiled even bigger.  “I’ll always be there for ya’, little sis.”

Suddenly, Callista snapped her attention back to the road and slammed on the breaks just before they came to an intersection with a green traffic light.

“Callista, what are you doing?”  Niki yelled as the car stopped and she braced herself against the dashboard with her hands.

Out of nowhere, a car came flying through the intersection running the red light.

“Wow,” Niki said, her eyes wide.  “That car would have hit us.  I didn’t even see it coming.  How do you always know?”  She asked turning her attention to Callista.

“I don’t know.  It’s like a sixth sense, I guess.”  Callista sighed in relief.  “Let’s get you home.  Even though it’s a Saturday, I don’t want you to be out too late.”

A few blocks further away, Callista dropped the girl off.  She waited in the car, watching to make sure Niki got inside her home safely.  Once she saw her enter, and the porch light turn off, she slowly drove away.

 

.             .             .

 

The following Monday, Callista quickly walked through the halls of the university she was attending.  She had just finished her last class of the day and needed to get to work.  She walked out into the parking lot and to her silver Hyundai Sonata.  Callista sensed someone walking up behind her as she put her bag and books into her car.  She stood up and whipped around, her hand in her back pocket clutched around her pocket knife, ready to pull it out.

“Hey, Cal,” her roommate said walking up.

“Oh,” Callista breathed when she realized there was no threat.  “Hey, Stephanie.  How were your classes?”

“Eh, you know, hard, and boring.  Most of them.  Chemistry is the most difficult, and the most fun!  I love getting to mix things up, and occasionally set my work station on fire and cause a little chaos,” Stephanie laughed.  “You heading to work?”

“Yeah.”

“Fun.  Which one is it today, clinic or shop?”

“Mechanic shop,” Callista replied.  “I’ll see you at home?”

“Actually, I’m going to head to the library to do some research, but afterwards yeah.”

“Alright, see you when I see you.  Drive safely, and study hard.”  Callista walked around to the driver side, jumped in, started up the car and moved into first gear.  She slowly pulled out of the parking lot and headed off to work.

 

.             .             .

 

Callista drove her car into the parking spot of her little apartment.  Her roommate wasn’t home yet, which meant she had to make dinner tonight.  She leaned back in her seat after she shut the engine off and sighed, exhausted from a long week of school and working at the clinic and the shop, enjoying the minute of peace and quiet and listening to the wind blow around the car.  Nursing school was hard enough by itself, forget having to work almost full time.  She gathered up her bag and books, got out of the car, locked it.  As she looked up at the sky, she could see dark clouds were blowing in.  It looked like it was going to be a fun night, as far as storms go.  Callista unlocked the front door to the house and went inside.

The apartment was small – just the two bedrooms which were each only large enough for a bed on one side and a small desk and dresser on the other side, a small kitchen/dining room and living room.  Callista went and set her stuff down on the little table by the door in her room, then went out into the kitchen to see what they had that she could make for dinner.

The freezer was packed with typical college-attendee foods.  She grabbed two boxes of personal pizzas, got them ready to go into the oven, and put them in once the preheating timer had gone off.  While she waited for them to be done she thought over what she had to do that evening, if anything.  All of her school work was done – hats off to her – so she felt like she deserved an early start to her weekend break.  She went and turned on the TV and started flipping through channels.  Nothing seemed good, until she saw the words “Star Wars” appear on the screen and fade off into the distant stars, followed by the words “Episode IV A New Hope.”  She’d heard about this movie, heard it was good, but not having a television at home while growing up until her very late teenage years she’d never seen it, she mostly stuck to books.  _Which is probably why I’m so fast at doing my homework_ , she thought to herself as she remembered how little TV time she had had.

The timer on the pizzas went off, so she hit the pause button on the remote.  _Thank goodness for roommates with rich daddies who get you DVR_.  She went back into the kitchen and took the pizzas out and shut off the oven.  Callista cut up hers, placed the pieces on a plate, put the other pizza in the microwave to help keep it warm, grabbed her favorite drink from the fridge – root beer – and headed back into the living room to watch the movie.

Callista flopped on the couch and pulled her phone out of her pocket.  “Not sure when you’ll be home.  Made personal pizza for you.  Reheat when you get home if cold.  It looks like a big storm is coming, be careful,” she typed out in a text to her roommate and hit “send.”  A few minutes later she got a text back in response.

“You’re awesome!  And you totally act like my mom.  Lol.  Doing some intense studying.  Not sure when I’ll be home.  See you when I am,” she read from her roommate.

 _Well, looks like I got the TV to myself tonight.  Yippee._   She hit play on the TV remote and began to eat her pizza while she watched the words scroll up the screen.  “It is a period of civil war…”

 

.             .             .

 

Callista watched as the Rebel forces celebrated their victory over the Empire by destroying the _Death Star_.  _Pretty good movie_ , she thought.

The young girl jumped as a loud clap of thunder roared outside.  How she hated thunder like that.

Just as the movie was ending, there was a bright flash of lightning followed by an extremely loud clap of thunder, and the power went out.

“Great,” Callista said.  She sighed and got up to check the fuse box in the dining room.  Sure enough, fuses were flipped in the overload position.  Callista started to turn them back on, and lights slowly began coming back on in the house.  She reached for the last fuse – the one for the living room.  Flipping it, she felt a jolt go through her body, and was thrown back until she finally hit something, landing.

Callista looked around for a few seconds in a daze.  Everything was fuzzy to her, but nothing looked familiar, nor did the heavy clunking she now heard sound familiar.  Darkness closed in around her and she lost consciousness


	3. Chapter Two: Cymoon 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callista wakes to find herself in a factory of some sorts, but it's not run by people. She tries to find her way out, eventually meeting a young man who leads her out, and suddenly she's pulled into a war she knows almost nothing about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two of the book. Let me know what you think.

Callista slowly woke, her head feeling like it was screaming.  She moaned as she sat up, her eyes still closed, and gripped her pounding head.  What had happened?  She thought for a moment.  That’s right, the power had gone out and she was fixing the fuses that were tripped then got shocked – thank God she was alive – and was thrown back.  She breathed in heavily.  _This smell_.  It wasn’t the smell of home at all; it smelled hot, and full of engine oil and steam.  She remembered looking around just before she had passed out, seeing weird lights that weren’t familiar to her.  Callista opened her eyes.  She was in a dimly lit room, leaning against a wall, behind what seemed to be machinery in a factory of some sorts.

_This isn’t home._

She slowly stood up, still trying to get her head to stop pounding.  This was definitely a factory.  There was a production line, but it wasn’t people manning the lines.

 _What are those_?  She froze slightly in fear as she realized she was looking at robots.  _Where the heck am I_?  Wherever she was, it was a scary enough place that she didn’t want to get caught and maybe replace one of these robots working the production lines.  _If they even do that kind of thing here_ , she thought.  One thing was for sure, she had to get out of there.  She began moving slowly down the wall of the room, her eyes constantly scanning the area around her.

Once she reached the end of the line she saw what looked like a door, but it had no doorknob and instead a button next to it.  _That button must be how to open it._   She looked to make sure no one was watching and rushed to the door, punching the button swiftly.  The door flew open with a _WHOOSH_!  She jumped a little, slightly startled, but was sure that if there was someone in the room they hadn’t heard that over the loud clanking of the machinery behind her.

Callista poked her head out through the door and looked down the hall both ways – all clear.  She inched out into it and made her way slowly down the hall, clinging to the wall.  As she reached an intersecting hallway she felt something tugging at her to her left, so she turned left.  She came to another intersecting hallway.  _Hm… I’ll go left again_ , she thought.

 _Don’t go that way_ , she heard what sounded like an elderly man’s voice whisper.

She whipped around, but no one was in the corridor but her.  Callista hesitantly backed away, turning right as the voice suggested.  _This is crazy.  Why am I following some random voice?  And what was that voice anyhow?  That shock must have messed with my head more than I thought_ , she thought to herself as she rubbed her still sore head again.  She moved down the corridor further, following the promptings of the voice to turn again. “How do you even get out of here?”  She whispered allowed, though mostly to herself.

“I can help you with that,” a young man’s voice whispered back.

Callista froze.  This voice wasn’t one she was just imagining in her head.  She’d been found.  Oh, gosh, what was next?  Was she their new slave to put on the lines of machinery?  Oh, gosh, what was next?  A hand reached onto her shoulder from behind, she began to let out a scream, but her mouth was instantly covered with another hand.  The first hand moved around her chest and pulled her back.

“Shh!  It’s alright.  I won’t hurt you, I promise.  You can trust me,” the same voice whispered.  “Now…I’m going to move my hand away from your mouth.  Can I trust you not to scream?”

Callista nodded, eyes wide with fear, her breathing heavy.

“Good.”

Both hands were removed, and she took a step forward, then turned around.  In front of her stood a young boy.  He seemed to be about her age – nineteen or twenty.  He had blonde hair, blue eyes, and a soft, kind of farm-boy look to his demeanor.  He was dressed in a yellow jacket with some sort of insignia on the left side of the chest.  Underneath he wore a black shirt and brown pants with a gun holstered to his right leg, and something round and metallic hanging down from his belt on the left side underneath his jacket.  He looked familiar, but Callista couldn’t place where she had seen him.  How could she have seen him somewhere before?  She was sure she wasn’t even on Earth anymore.  Still, she looked a little closer at the boy.  She was sure she had seen him somewhere before.

He reached his hand out to her.  “I’m Luke.”

Callista shook his hand.  “Callista,” she said hesitantly.  “Where am I?”

The boy now identified as Luke looked at her with a quizzical look, which then turned to sympathy.  “You’re in the Imperial weapons factory on Cymoon 1.  A moon in the Corellian Industrial Cluster.  You must have been drugged and brought here.”

Callista blinked in disbelief.  “I don’t think I was.  Wait, I’m where?”

Now Luke looked at her closer, examining her, and he cocked his head as he took in her clothes.  “You’re not from around here, are you?”

Callista shook her head.  “I don’t even know where ‘ _here_ ’ is.”  She tried so hard, but she couldn’t fight back the tears.  How did she get here?  Where was home?  She just wanted to go back home.  The young woman started to sob.

“Hey, hey, come here.”  Luke put his arms around her and held her for a moment while she cried.  “Where are you from?”  He asked.

“Earth,” she said.  Since this young man had said that she was on a moon in some cluster, she assumed she wasn’t even in her galaxy, let alone solar system.

“Earth?  I haven’t heard of it.  What system is it in?”

“The Solar System.”

“’Solar System’?  Haven’t heard of that either.  How long have you been here?”  Luke quickly looked her over, looking for scars or anything else that could give him an idea as to how long she had been a slave here.

“I don’t know.  I just got here… I think.  I was home watching a movie during a thunderstorm when the power went out and I went to reset the fuses in the fuse box.  I got electrocuted and woke up here.”  Callista choked out a sob at her feeling of total confusion.

Luke stared at her.  _Movie?_   What was she talking about?  “Okay,” he said slowly.  “Well let’s get you out of here, shall we?  We’ve gotta’ hurry – there isn’t much time, and there’s something I need to do.  Can you help me?”

Callista nodded.  He took her hand and led her through the corridors and back down the hall that housed the door she had just come from minutes before.

“Where are we going?”  Callista asked.  She prayed it wasn’t back into the machinery room she had just left.

“I’m sensing lifeforms this way, which aren’t supposed to be here,” Luke explained.  “I’m going to check it out before we leave.”

 _Sensing?  What, is he psychic?_ She followed Luke as they turned to enter a room.  Inside the room was a cage full of people and other creatures under the watch of a single guard dressed in white armor.  They approached the cage, Callista wide-eyed and hesitant at seeing these new alien creatures.

The guard raised his weapon as they got closer.  “Freeze!”  He demanded, his voice slightly distorted through the helmet that covered his entire head and face.  “Identify yourself.”

Luke gently waved his hand in front of him.  “You don’t need to know who we are.  You will unlock the cage.”

“I’m not unlocking this cage for anyone,” the guard replied, gun still raised.

Luke tried again, a little more fervently this time.  “You don’t need to know who we are.  You _will_ unlock the cage.”

“I’ll put _you_ in that cage,” the guard threatened and raised his gun to his shoulder to fire it.

Luke let go of Callista’s hand and whipped out the metal that had been hanging from his belt.  It came to life with a zap, a blue blade emerging form the metal hilt – the weapon looked strange, yet familiar somehow.  He lunged at the guard and whipped what Callista assumed was a saber of some sorts through the air, taking off the guard’s arm.  The weapon instantly cauterized the wound on both ends, not a single drop of blood spilling.  Callista jumped at the sight, eyes getting even wider, if that was possible.  The guard screamed and grabbed at the stump of his arm that was left.  Luke extended his arm and sent him flying against the far wall, then moved the cage and used the saber to cut the lock and open the cage.

Luke turned to Callista, “Grab his rifle,” he said to her as she nodded her head obediently.  “Come with us,” he instructed the slaves.  He returned his weapon to his belt, turned to Callista and grabbed her free hand.

The slaves nodded and ran after Luke and Callista.  They all ran out of the room and down the hall.

“Kid, we gotta’ go,” a man’s voice sounded out from a radio attached to Luke’s belt.  “Where are you?”

Luke unclipped the very tiny and round radio from his belt and spoke into it.  “We’re on our way.  I have freed slaves with me.”

“Good job, kid.  I’ve rigged the core to detonate in 10 minutes.  Hurry,” the voice radioed back.

“Got it.  We’re moving to you,” Luke replied.  He re-attached the radio to his belt.  Suddenly Luke felt an ominous presence enter the factory.  There was no questioning where that dark feeling he felt through the Force was coming from – Darth Vader was here.  _Ben,_ he called out through the Force.  Luke nodded to himself.  “Come on!  Run faster!”  He pulled on Callista’s hand, the slaves hurried fast behind them.

Luke led them all through the corridors until they saw two more people, a man and a woman with a little white and blue round robot on wheels, in front of a door.

“There they are.  Let’s go.”  He pulled Callista with him again as they took off running even faster.

Laser blasts were zipping past the couple in front of them.  The man and woman were hiding behind a couple crates, firing back.

“Luke!”  The female called out.

Luke and Callista ran faster, then ducked behind the crates next to the couple.

Luke pulled out his gun – now identified to Callista as a blaster – and began firing shots at the white-armored guards at the other end of the corridor.  “So, what’s the plan?”  He shouted in question to the other man.

“AT-AT.  Through there,” the man pointed to the door.  “Was just waiting for you.”

“What happened to the _Falcon?!  I thought she was coming to us!_ ”  Luke asked.

“I contacted 3PO.  Native scavengers.  They tore apart the autopilot system.  We’ve gotta’ go to them,” he explained.

Luke looked at Callista with a look that said _You gonna’ fire, or what?_

She took a deep breath, then moved up into a crouch to look back over the crates, then turned quickly and began shooting at the men at the other end of the hall, instantly killing two of them.  Callista ducked as a laser blast shot past her head, then came back up and fired again.

Luke watched her for a moment, in awe at this girl and her skill with the blaster rifle.

Seeing that most of the guards were down, the man they had just joined shouted, “Okay, let’s move.”  He stood up and fired endless shots at the last few guards as the slaves ran past him through the door, led again by Luke and Callista and now the other female as well.  He followed once everyone was clear.

Inside the hangar were dozens of giant metal things with four long legs jutting down from a large compartment attached to another head-shaped compartment with a long window in the front.  Callista assumed those were the AT-ATs the man had mentioned.

“Let’s get on one of these,” the man instructed.

They all ran to the closest one.  Luke opened the door on the side of the AT-AT and motioned for the man and woman and Callista to get on board.  He felt a wave of cold go through him via the Force.  _Vader._   The man and woman came running up to the AT-AT as the door they had just entered the hangar through opened again behind them and a force of the white-armored guards ran in.  The guards rushed forward at the slaves, who rushed back and began to fight them.

“You guys get on.  I need to finish something,” Luke said as he put Callista on, and the robot rolled past him to climb on as well.

“No, Luke!  Wait!”  The woman called out after him, but he was already lost in the sea of slaves fighting white-armored guards.

Callista didn’t understand any of this, and decided it was best that she just stay out of the way.  She moved to a corner in the back of the main compartment of the AT-AT and just stood there.  Suddenly, a cold wave washed over her and she sensed something dark nearby.

“Leia,” the man yelled from the cockpit of the AT-AT.  “He’ll be fine.  We’ve gotta’ go!”

Two little figures in with yellow glowing eyes and dark brown robes covering their entire bodies ran on just before the man closed the door.  He made his way to the front of the AT-AT.

Leia moved next to the man at the controls.  “Are you sure you can pilot this thing?”  She asked as she hurried and punched a couple controls herself.

“Sweetheart, I can pilot anything,” he said as he pushed the controls and the AT-AT lurched to life, shuddering as it screeched with every movement.  It walked out of the hangar and slowly through the facility.

More troops were running through the hallways, and more slaves had been freed and were fighting against the troops.  The man piloting the AT-AT did his best to try and avoid stepping on them with one of the heavy feet of the AT-AT.  The robot and the two cloaked figures tried pushing on controls, hoping they would help to activate the AT-AT’s weapons, but the machine had not yet been fully assembled inside the factory, so it was difficult to find the proper controls.

The man grabbed his radio.  “3PO, do you copy?”

“Yes, sir,” replied a robotic-sounding male voice.

“3PO, we’ve ran into a little trouble.  Are the scavengers still there?”

“Yes, sir, they are.”

“I want you to take your golden-rod body, grab a blaster, go outside, and get them to leave before they tear my ship apart!”

“But sir, I couldn’t possibly do that!  I’m not a warrior, I’m an interpret – “

“Just do it, or I’ll blast you into a million pieces myself!”  The man yelled through the radio.

“Y-yes, sir,” the robotic voice replied, with all the panic of an actual human voice, which Callista found fascinating.

 

.             .             .

 

C-3PO did as he was instructed.  He went down the hall of the _Millennium Falcon_ and grabbed a gun.  He lowered the gangplank and went outside to fight off the scavengers.

As the gangplank lowered, the scavengers grabbed their weapons in preparation to defend themselves against whomever was descending from the ship.  However, as they saw the golden protocol droid come out, they knew the odds were in their favor.

C-3PO raised his blaster.  “Lower your weapons, and remove yourselves from this ship,” he requested in his sternest voice, which still lacked any hint of intimidation at all.

The scavengers laughed at the non-threatening droid.  One of the shouted at him in their native tongue and raised his blaster.

“Don’t shoot!”  3PO exclaimed as he dropped his blaster and threw his half-bent metal arms into the air in surrender.

The scavengers moved forward and captured the droid, making sure he didn’t have any tricks up his sleeves, so-to-speak, then resumed their work of taking anything they could from the ship.

 

.             .             .

 

 _Ben, he’s here._   Luke called out through the Force again as he ran through the corridors. _Darth Vader.  The man who killed my father.  Who killed you!  I have to face him.  I have to end this._

Luke heard Obi-Wan’s voice reply through the Force.  _Luke… Listen to me carefully… Run!_

The young Rebel ignored Obi-Wan’s warning and pushed his way through another fusion of slaves and Imperial troops fighting.  Luke ran around a corner, and just down the hall he saw him.  _Vader_ , he thought coldly.  He drew his lightsaber and ran down the hall towards him, igniting it with a _zap_ as he neared the dark lord.  He leapt into the air, slashing down at the figure.

Darth Vader drew his own lightsaber and fended off the boy’s first attack with great ease.  This boy was no match for the powerful dark lord of the Sith.

“You’re no Jedi, boy.  You hold that saber like you’re a child – sloppy.  Give it to me,” Vader sneered at the Rebel boy in front of him.  This boy couldn’t be more than nineteen or twenty.  _So young.  So foolish._   He pressed his attack on the boy, but the young Rebel was relentless.  “Give up, boy.  You’re no match for my power.”

“Never!”  Luke yelled back.  He pushed with his lightsaber, hoping to dislodge the sark lord in front of him at least a little, but his attack backfired, and it was he that was thrust backwards.

“Why do you insist on playing this game?”  Vader asked, feeling the joy of a potential lightsaber duel leaving him at the ease at which he was defeating this attacker.

“Because,” Luke said, picking himself up from another push that sent him sprawling to the ground.  He readied himself, feet separated, both hands clasping the hilt of his lightsaber.  “You killed my father,” Luke said, emboldened.

“You’ll have to be more specific, boy, I’ve killed many fathers… and many boys.”  Vader slashed down on the boy’s lightsaber again, sending him flying back again.  He was just toying with him now, and it worked.

Luke yelled and jumped at the dark lord, lightsaber swinging wildly, only to have every attempt at an advance countered hopelessly.

The dark lord pushed the boy back with his own advancing attacks, entering the wide, opened space of a hangar.  He heard the clanking metal of an AT-AT off in the distance and radioed for all troops to fall on his location so as not to let the Rebels escape.

More troops arrived, and so did more freed slaves.  They filled the hangar Vader and Luke were in.

Vader used the Force and disarmed Luke, the lightsaber flying into Vader’s hand.  He instantly recognized the lightsaber – it had once belonged to Anakin Skywalker.  Who was this Rebel, and just how did he get that lightsaber?  He could sense a familiar presence surrounding the boy.  _Obi-Wan_ , he thought to himself.  “So, Obi-Wan Kenobi gave you this lightsaber.  A shame he did not teach you how to wield it.  He never did make for much of a master.”

Luke stared at him in disbelief.  “How did you…”

Vader continued.  “The Force will never be with you, boy.  Your master has fallen.  What hope have you?  If you wish to live you will tell me all you know of the Rebellion, including the nature of this attack.”  He ignited both lightsabers.  “And then you will lead me to the pilot who destroyed the _Death Star_ and watch as I strike him down.  Speak quickly or join your friends in death.”

Luke glared at the dark Sith lord.  “I’d rather die than yield to you.”

Vader crossed the lightsabers preparing to cut down the Rebel boy.  “So be it.”

With a loud _Smash!_ , the AT-AT landed a foot right in the middle of their conflict, sending the both of them jumping and falling back.  After the foot was lifted, Vader looked around for the young Rebel, and saw him retreating in the distance.  He went after Luke, killing three slaves who got in his way.

Luke ran hard.  _How could a farm boy like me from Tatooine become a Jedi_?  How could he win in this?  He was desperately out of his league.  He began to lose hope, until he saw a speeder bike the he knew he could pilot off in the distance of the hangar.  He picked up his pace and ran to it.  Luke jumped on the speeder bike and raced off towards Vader, taking out any troops in his way.  Luke fired two shots at the dark lord, hitting him in the leg, causing him to drop the boy’s lightsaber and groan in pain and stumble back.  The young Rebel leaned over on the speeder bike and snatched up his lightsaber from where Vader had dropped it then sped off towards the AT-AT.

 

.             .             .

 

The man piloting the AT-AT aimed one of the feet at the tall, black figure, whom Leia had now identified for Callista as Darth Vader, at the request of Leia.  Luke fired two shots from a vehicle at him.  He was injured, down on one knee, but he was like a wounded dog – still dangerous.  They watched Vader lift up his hand and use the Force to hold the leg in place.  Leia and the man tried everything they could, but the leg wouldn’t move.  They heard the metal of the AT-AT begin to either sink in or be torn off due to the power Vader was using.  Finally, the small blue and white robot and the two little creatures were able to activate the weapons systems of the AT-AT, and the robot beeped and whistled excitedly.  Leia moved to weapons and began firing on Vader’s location.

The lasers rained down on Vader.  He released his hold on the AT-AT and fell back.  He was injured, but still alive, and knew when it was time to withdraw.

Leia then instructed the man to start moving the AT-AT towards the wall as she fired shot after shot at it, weakening it’s hold.  The AT-AT burst through the wall and escaped.  Many of the slaves ran through the new-made hole to freedom, Luke followed after them.

 

.             .             .

 

Overseer Aggadeen, the overseer of the factory, contacted Vader and told him that his team was unable to stop the core meltdown.  He asked permission for his men to evacuate the building.

Furious, Lord Vader denied the request.  “As punishment for their utter and complete failure in stopping the Rebels from destroying the Empire’s main weapons factory, Overseer Aggadeen, your men will stay in the factory and die with it in the impending explosion.  You, however, will come with me.  Your punishment for your failure shall be far worse,” he told Overseer Aggadeen.  He stared after the retreating AT-AT.  Vader wanted the Rebels dead and gone, but not the boy he had just fought – something about that boy ate at him, and so he had other plans for that boy.

Vader ordered Aggadeen to join him in the hangar housing his shuttle – he would take him to the emperor to pay for his failure.

 

.             .             .

 

The team blasted their way through the complex with the AT-AT, and Luke followed them still on the speeder bike.  They moved across the landscape to where the _Falcon_ lay in wait a good ways off from the factory, Luke taking out the scavengers with the speeder bike and rescuing C-3PO.  Luke jumped off the speeder and ran to the AT-AT, picking up C-3PO’s fallen weapon as he ran.  He helped the others get off AT-AT and onto the _Falcon._   The little cloaked figures ran off on their own.

He looked around.  “Where’s Chewie?”  He asked.

“We lost contact with him while we were inside,” Leia replied.

Callista jumped as they all heard a roar ring out, and shots fire behind them.  She turned and saw a giant, brown, hairy creature come running towards them carrying what looked like a crossbow.  She ran over behind Luke.  Luke raised the gun in his hand and began to fire shots towards the giant creature, but instead hit two white-armored troops chasing after him.

“Come on, Chewie,” Luke’s friend yelled as he got the rest of the group on board.

The creature roared in response, as he fired two more shots at pursuing troops, killing two of them.

After Luke and Callista ran up the gangplank into the ship, Luke guided Callista down the hall and to the front of the ship into the cockpit.  The other man was already sitting in the pilot’s chair hitting controls and buttons.

The giant creature paused just on the gangplank, firing more shots at more troops who were running towards them.

Suddenly, a loud explosion sounded from where they had just come, and the ground beneath the ship shook.

“Gee, you guys sure know how to make an exit,” the man in the pilot seat said.  “Well, let’s hope those scavengers didn’t tear everything apart.”  He hit a control and the ship’s engines started up.  He looked back behind him, then stopped when he saw that the girl from the AT-AT was now on his ship.  “Who’s this?”  He gestured back with his thumb looking at Luke.

“A girl I found trying to escape.  I told her we could help her,” Luke explained as he jumped into the co-pilot’s chair and began hitting more controls and buttons.  The gangplank lifted up, the hairy creature still shooting out it at more approaching white-armored men.  He stopped once he felt the ship beginning to move and moved up and into the hall towards the cockpit of the _Falcon_.

They took off before the gangplank was even fully up.  Callista fell back from the unexpected force, the hairy creature, identified as Chewie, caught her and helped her to a chair.  Then moved to stand behind the co-pilot’s chair, looking at the controls in front of Luke anxiously.

 _I guess that’s usually his spot?_   Callista wondered to herself.

Leia sat in the chair next to Callista and started to buckle up.  Callista reached for her buckles, unsure of exactly how to fasten them.  She watched as Leia, who also seemed to be about her own age, fastened hers, and she followed suit.

The ship banked, rolled, went up and then came back down through a canyon.  Behind them, Callista heard a loud explosion.  She guessed it was the factory exploding.

“Uh…,” the pilot stammered, “we’ve got company.”

Green lasers zipped past them from behind, thankfully missing.  Callista could hear what sounded like an un-Earthly roaring coming from behind them.  Luke jumped up from his chair and ran down the hall and climbed down a ladder.  The hairy creature took his place and seemed more than content there.  Callista could hear what she assumed were lasers being fired by Luke back at their pursuers.  The pilot and co-pilot worked together to bank and roll more, avoiding shots being fired at them, and trying to aid in taking out the ships behind them.  There was a rock wall ahead of them getting closer, and closer.

“Um…rocks!”  Callista pointed and yelled.  “Rock wall!  Rock wall!  Rock wall!”  She curled up in her chair, using her arms to protect her head, as the ship soared closer and closer to the cliff in front of them.  She was sure they were going to hit the wall and explode but felt the ship instead suddenly angle and shoot up.  The sound of an explosion rocketed behind them, and Luke shouted excitedly from the turret.

There were still green lasers shooting past them as they leveled out, though not as many now.  Callista could hear Luke firing more shots back.  The green lasers suddenly stopped as a final explosion sounded.

“I got him!  Now let’s head for home,” Luke’s voice sounded over the radio from the turret below.

The ship ascended into the atmosphere of the moon and then out into space.  Callista marveled at all the stars – she had never seen so many in her life.

The pilot looked back at her.  “This your first time off-planet?”  He chuckled.

Callista nodded silently, still gawking at the stars.

“Great.  Then you’re gonna’ love this,” he said sarcastically as he moved for controls in the middle of the consol.  “Alright, everyone hang on.”

The stars in front of them turned into long blue streaks of light, as the ship flew off at an unbelievable speed with a force that slammed Callista back in her seat.

“What are we doing?  How fast are we traveling?”  Callista asked.

The pilot chuckled again.  “We’re in hyperspace, honey.  Traveling at lightspeed.”

“Lightspeed?  But it’s impossible to travel at the speed of light.  Scientists have been trying to figure out how to do so for years but have only been able to break the sound barrier,” Callista replied.

Everyone in the cockpit turned to look at her.

Callista sank back in her chair feeling the red embarrassment creeping up her cheeks at her obvious lack of knowledge in her new surroundings.  “I’m not from around here,” she explained sheepishly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How are you guys liking it so far? Thank you for the support! I'm still looking for a better title for this work and am taking suggestions. What do you have?


	4. Chapter Three: The Alliance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callista is brought to the Rebel Alliance. She's still trying to figure everything out and is finally starting to get a little bit of a clue as to what's going on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still kind of setting the stage. These chapters may not be the most exciting, but I hope you guys enjoy them still. Please leave comments and let me know what you think!

After what seemed like hours – Callista couldn’t really tell in the blue tunnel of hyperspace – she began to doze softly in her chair in the cockpit.

Luke, who had come back into the cockpit shortly after leaving Cymoon 1, glanced over at the girl he had found lost in the factory – her head was bobbing, her eyes drooping.  He moved over to her from his position standing behind Leia’s chair.  “Come on.  I’ll get you a bunk in the crew quarters.”  He helped her unbuckle and stand, leading her down the hall.  He pushed a button on a control panel on the wall and the door to a room opened.

Inside was a set of two bunks – one above the other – and a small sink.  Not much to look at, but the bed, as worn as it looked, still looked welcoming in her tiredness.

“This is Leia’s room, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind sharing with you.”

“Thank you.  I really appreciate this.”

“No problem.  Get some rest.”  Luke left.

Callista climbed the ladder to the top bunk after Luke left, figuring that since she was sharing the room with Leia it was a safe bet to assume that she had already laid claim to the bottom bunk.  The bed was worn, just as she had guessed, but she was soon asleep.

 

.             .             .

 

Luke sat on his bunk thinking back on his duel – if you could even call his complete and utter lack of accomplishing any kind of attack a duel – with Vader on Cymoon 1.  He had failed so miserably.  _How did Vader take my lightsaber from me?  I was holding it so tightly._   He sighed.  _I obviously have a lot more to learn.  Ben, why did you let him kill you?  There was still so much for you to teach me, now I have no one or no way._   He laid back on the bunk and thought about how in the galaxy he was going to learn – all of the Jedi were dead.  Luke suddenly shot up as an idea came to him.  Ben had been living on Tatooine alone for years so surely he must have hidden something about the Jedi in his home.  Luke would have to go and look for it as soon as they got back to the fleet.

 

.             .             .

 

Callista woke up feeling like she had been asleep for ages.  She climbed down to the floor and walked over to the control panel on the wall by the door.  There were three buttons and she figured one of them opened the door but wasn’t sure which one.  She hit the top button first and heard a _Click_.  _Great. I must have just engaged the lock_ , she thought.  She hit the button again then stared at the panel wondering why on Earth there would be three buttons when you really only needed to lock or unlock a door, and open and close it.  She was hesitant to hit another one.

“Hit the bottom one,” Luke’s voice came from outside the room.  “The bottom one opens the door.”

“Oh.  Thank you!”  Callista did as he instructed, and the door _Hissed_ open, sliding into the wall.  She jumped a bit, still not used to that.

When she emerged from the bunk, she saw Luke and the robots sitting at the table in what she assumed was the common area.  Luke greeted her when he saw her and informed her that she had been asleep for almost a two days.  He told her that she had slept through multiple more drops out of and back in to hyperspace – Callista figured it was so they could cover their tracks and make sure they weren’t being followed.

“I can’t believe I slept for that long.”

“You did seem pretty tired, and you did go through a lot,” Luke offered as explanation.

“Yeah, I guess.  How much longer until we get to wherever we’re going?”  Callista asked.

“About a day or so.  Are you hungry?”  He gestured to the plate of half-eaten food that he had in front of him.

“Starved,” Callista replied.

“I’ll get you some.”  Luke stood and made his way over to a drawer that held little clear packets of food and he removed two.  He put one in a bowl and added a bit of water to it, several minutes later it turned into a roll.  The other packet he opened and placed on the plate he had grabbed before adding the roll to it.  He brought the meal and some utensils back to the table for Callista.  “Would you like some water?”

“That would be great, thank you,” Callista said, as she stared at the roll, wide-eyed.  _How in the…?_   She picked it up, sniffed at it quickly.  _Smells decent_ – she took a bite – _tastes decent_.  She nodded to Luke in thanks as he handed her a cup of water, chugging it down, and turned back to her food.

“Sorry there isn’t more.  We didn’t really bring a lot since it was supposed to be such a quick mission and we weren’t really expecting to bring anyone back with us,” Luke clarified.

“No, this is fine.  Thank you,” Callista said graciously.  “Where are the others?”  She asked, looking around.

“They’re in the cockpit.  Would you like to join them?”

“No, I’m okay.”  Callista shook her head earnestly.  That big hairy creature seemed nice and all, but he was rather huge and a little intimidating – she’d rather avoid any confrontations with him for the time being.  “Where are we?”

“Um… I’d say somewhere between Katarr and Glee Anselm.”

“Okay,” Callista nodded, pretending that made sense.  She finished her food just as the hairy creature rounded the corner into the common area.  “I’m going to go back to my bunk for now.  Thank you for the meal,” she said as she got up from the booth around the table and started walking towards her bunk.

“We’re just about to start a game of Dejarik.  Wouldn’t you like to join us?”  Luke asked quickly.

“N-No.  No.  Thank you.  I’ll just go back to my bunk.”  Callista turned again to her bunk, eyeing the big mass of hair before her with wide eyes.

Chewie eyed her right back, skeptically.  After she had engaged the lock on the door, Chewie quietly moaned something to Luke.

“Chewbacca says, ‘There’s something odd about that girl,’” C-3PO translated for Luke.

“Yeah.  Not exactly sure what it is, but you’ve got that right Chewie.”  Luke eyed the now-closed door to the crew quarters.  “Let’s start,” he said, turning his attention to clearing off the Dejarik board, which doubled as the table.

 

.             .             .

 

Callista spent the next couple of days mainly in her bunk, except for the few times she came out for meals.  Luke had made an effort to have Chewie absent for when Callista came out to eat, which she was thankful for, but she was sure that whenever she wasn’t outside the hairy beast was sitting just outside of her door.  This made her all the more hesitant to emerge.  Leia would occasionally come in to their shared bunk to sleep, change after using what she called the “’fresher” – Callista assumed it was a shower – and to occasionally rummage through things in her trunk.  Callista was sure the rummaging was just an excuse to keep an eye on Callista.  Callista didn’t mind, though, not like she had anything else to do anyway.  She would mainly lay on her bunk, everything in her mind still reeling and she herself still trying to make sense of everything.  She just took it all in like a sponge.

 

.             .             .

 

After a day or two – Callista couldn’t really tell for sure in the dark of Space and her sleep coming intermittently now – and multiple more drops out of and back into hyperspace, there was a knock on her door.

“Come in,” Callista said, sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of her bunk, letting them dangle.

Luke entered.  “We’ll be making our final drop from hyperspace soon.  Would you like to join us in the cockpit for that?”  He asked.

“Yes, thank you,” Callista said.  She jumped down from the bunk and followed Luke down the hall and into the cockpit.

Luke gestured to the seat behind Han and let Callista sit, he stood with a hand on the back of either of the two back passenger chairs.

“Alright, everyone, hang on,” Han, said.  He pushed a button and they dropped out of lightspeed with a lurch.

Callista noticed that she was the only one who was thrown back into her seat when they went into hyperspace, and who was in turn thrown forward when they dropped out of it.  _It must be something you get used to,_ she thought.  She looked out the window ahead of them.  There were multiple large – very large – ships ahead of them.

A man’s voice came over the radio.  “We have you on our screen.  Please submit the passcode.”

Han hit a button on the console and began to talk.  “Sending transmission.”

“Transmission received.  Welcome back, Captain Solo,” the man’s voice said, sounding more relaxed than he did with his first message.  “We’ve received word that your mission was successful,” the man chuckled a bit.

“Yeah, you could say that.  Hey, uh, we’ve got one extra.  Picked her up on the moon.”

“Acknowledged,” the voice replied, suddenly all business again.  “We’re alerting Command.  We will have escorts meet you in docking bay two.”

“Understood,” Han finished the conversation.

 _“Escorts?”  Is that their way of saying guards?_   Callista thought.  _Great._

They moved towards what seemed to be the main ship of the small fleet.  As they got closer Callista could see light coming from a rectangular-shaped hole in the side of the ship with smaller ships docked in it.  They moved in, slowing down in speed as they prepared to dock.

Luke waited for Callista to undo her buckles on her seat and stand.  He took her gently by the arm and led her to the gangplank as it lowered.  She noticed he was suddenly all business as well.  Waiting at the end of the gangplank there were four men in tan pants, grey shirts, black vests and long, oval-shaped white and black helmets that covered the backs of their heads and necks, with small guns holstered to their legs.  Luke led her down to them.  Callista looked at him nervously.

“Don’t worry,” he assured her.  “We aren’t going to hurt you.  They’re just here to escort you to a room so you can be asked a few questions.”

“Will I see you later?”  She asked.

“Of course.”  Luke left with his companions whom Callista had learned were each respectively named Han, Leia, Chewbacca – or Chewie – and C-3PO and R2-D2.

She watched them leave, especially Luke.  He, so far, was the only one she felt she really could trust.  From the moment she met him she had had this feeling that she could trust him wholly.  Despite that, though, she still felt apprehensive about her current situation.

“Miss?”  One of the guards gestured in front of him.  “This way please,” he said as he looked her up and down, obviously taking in the peculiarity of her clothes.

Callista had forgotten that she was still wearing the black jeans and black long-sleeved shirt with zippers on the shoulders that she had been when she was hurled into this world.  She thought about it and realized that she must smell horrible – she hadn’t showered in a three days at least – and that her hair probably looked like a greasy mess.  _Oh gosh, I must be quite the sight to them_.

Callista followed her guards through the hangar to a corridor, and down to a small room.  The room was empty, save for a table in the middle and a chair on either side.  _All that’s missing is a one-way mirror in one of the walls_ , Callista thought sarcastically.

“Do you have any weapons, Miss?”  The first guard asked.

“Just this,” Callista reached into her pocket and pulled out her little pocket knife that she always carried.

The guard held out his hand for it.  Callista hesitated, then reluctantly handed it over to him.

“You’ll get this back.  We just can’t risk you hurting anyone.  Please, have a seat.”  He gestured to a chair by the table.

Callista turned and looked at the empty room, dejected, as the guards left.  She walked over to the table in the middle of the room and took a seat.  Callista sighed in temporary defeat.  She sat and waited for several minutes.  The minutes turned into several hours, she was sure.

There was a knock on the door, and it slid open with a _Hiss_.  The first guard from earlier entered.  “We apologize for the wait, Miss.  Is there anything I could get you?  Are you hungry?  Thirsty?”

“I am a little hungry,” Callista replied.

“Alright, I’ll have some food brought in.  Please just wait here.”

Callista’s fears started to subside a bit.  These people all seemed to genuinely care, not at all what she was expecting from people who could be seen as her captors.  Even though she was obviously a prisoner, or at least she felt like she was, she was never called that or treated as such.  Everything they had done thus far was done with respect towards her and was just precautionary.  The feeling she had here was much different than the overwhelming feeling of fear and anger she felt at the weapons factory.

A few minutes later, the guard returned with a tray of food.  Callista wasn’t sure what it was, but it smelled appetizing.  He put the tray down on the table in front of her.

“I hope you like this – I’ve heard you’re not really used to things from here.”  He watched her as she picked up a spoon and scooped up a little bit of the food in front of her and looked at it.  “Please, eat.  It will only be a few minutes now before someone comes in, I’m sure.”  He turned and left.

Callista tried the bite of food on her spoon – it was good, whatever it was.  She ate quickly, not wanting to be rude and eat while whomever it was that was coming was there.

She finished her food, and a few more minutes passed by.  There was a knock on the door and it slid open as a female came in.  Callista stood as the woman entered.  She was dressed in a white tunic and with tan pants, an insignia with five red dots over her left breast.  Callista guessed that those insignias symbolized some level of rank as everyone she had seen wearing one had a different set of symbols.  The woman carried with her what, to Callista, looked like a thick version of a Tablet from Earth, and her eyes were focused on it.  Just as she reached the table she looked up from the tablet and at Callista, pausing for a moment with a quizzical look on her face, like she recognized Callista.

“Hello,” the woman said after a moment, blinking, reclaiming her composure.  “Please, sit.”  The woman sat across the table from Callista.  She had brown hair with a few wisps of grey, that was pulled back into an intricate web of twisted locks near the nape of her neck.  “I’m General Sabé Raeh, one of the members of the High Command.  I’m here to talk with you about what happened on Cymoon 1.  I’d also like to find out more about you.”

“Alright,” Callista replied.

“Let’s start at the beginning.”  She put her tablet down in front of her.  “What’s your name?”

“Callista Jade Davenport.”

“Alright.  And where are you from?”

“I’m from the planet Earth.”  _Let’s not even begin to get into states, cities, or countries.  I’m sure you wouldn’t understand._

“How old are you?”

“I’m almost nineteen years old.”

“Miss Davenport, how did you manage to get inside the weapons factory on Cymoon 1?  It’s obvious you weren’t a slave there – your clothes aren’t torn and ragged, you don’t have any scars or signs of beatings like the slaves had – so how did you get inside there?”  She rested her chin on her hand.

“Well…,” Callista began, “I know this is going to sound crazy…but this is what happened, and I’m being completely honest.”  Callista took a deep breath.  “I was sitting in my home watching a movie – that’s like a moving picture we sometimes watch for entertainment – “

“Like an entertainment hologram?”

“Uh…yeah, I guess.  I’m not really sure what an entertainment hologram is, sorry.”

“Yes.  I’d heard you aren’t too familiar with things we use here.  Please, continue.”

“I-I was sitting at home watching a movie during a really bad thunderstorm with terrible lightning and thunder when the power in the house went out.  I went to the fuse box and started flipping the fuses back on, and when I got to the last one I was electrocuted and was shot backwards away from the fuse box.  I must have hit my head or something, because everything went black.  The next thing I knew I woke up and I was in what I guess was the production-line room of the weapons factory.  I-I made my way down to the end of the room against the wall where no one could see me…then out the door into the hallway.  I walked through the halls a bit and that was where I met Luke.  He said he could help me get out of there, so I went with him.  We went to a room that had a cage with people and aliens in it guarded by a single guard.  Luke went up to him, and literally _dis-armed_ him, then freed the people and aliens in the cage.  We then ran and met up with Leia, Han and the robot – I forgot its name – that was with them.”

“Astrodroid,” Sabé interjected.

“What?”

“That robot is called an astrodroid,” Raeh explained.

“Oh, astrodroid.  Uh…  They were firing at troops down the hall from them, waiting for us.  Then we opened the door to a hangar and ran onto what I assume was an AT-AT and Han moved it through the factory, eventually opening a hole in the wall through which we escaped.  While we were moving on the AT-AT, Luke was fighting someone in a black cape, suit and mask, then he jumped on some sort of vehicle and caught up with us.  We moved to a ship that they had waiting off a-ways from the factory, boarded it and took off.  Then other ships came after us and started shooting at us.  Luke got in the turret to fire back, and Han flew and made some pretty cool maneuvers to dodge the ships’ fire coming at us,” Callista said, gesturing with her hands.  “After they were shot down we flew out into space away from the moon, and then jumped into hyperspace.  And then we came here.”

“Hm,” General Raeh said.  “Miss Davenport, I was told about how you aided in the escape – killing several Stormtroopers before you all got onto an AT-AT.  You say you’re not from around here, and yet you have amazing skills with a blaster – a clear sign of military training.”

“I have no actual military training.  Just had a foster parent who insisted I learn how to take care of myself.  He had been in the army and passed what he learned there on to me.  He taught me how to use a gun, and the basics of how to tactically assess a situation.  The rest just came naturally.  I’ve kind of always had this sense of sometimes knowing when some things are going to happen, usually just seconds before they do - kind of like I'm able to anticipate someone's moves - or knowing when there’s danger.”

General Raeh looked at Callista, calculatedly.  “Miss Davenport, does the term Jabba-ed mean anything to you?”

“What-ed?”  Callista was so confused.

“What about IA Agents?”

“I really have no idea what you’re talking about.  What is Jabba-ed?  What are IA Agents?  Where _am_ I?”

General Raeh stared at Callista again, long and hard.

Callista could feel her burrowing into her soul.  “Really, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”  She lifted her hands up in the air in a shrugging motion.  “Everything is so confusing and unknown to me here.  I have no idea what’s going on.”

General Sabé Raeh raised her eyebrow at Callista, then sighed.  “I guess you really don’t.  You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”  She made a note on her tablet and began to stand up.

“General Raeh?  Please,” Callista stopped her, “I’m so lost and confused.  I just want to go home.  Can you help me?”

General Raeh sighed and sat back down.  “You said you’re from where again?”

“Earth,” Callista said.  “It’s a planet far away from here, I’m assuming.  It’s in the Milky Way Galaxy, in the Solar System.”

“Hmm,” Sabé thought.  She felt a great sense of sympathy for the young woman before her, knowing how it felt to only want to go home and see your family again, but never being able to.  “I’ve never heard of it, so the odds of you being able to go aren’t good, I’m afraid.  I’ll speak with Command and see what we can do about getting you back there, though.  Please wait here, someone will be in with you shortly.”  She stood up and left with her tablet, the door sliding shut behind her.

Another hour or two went by, then there was another knock on the door.  Luke came in, with a lady with short brown hair, wearing a white and grey robe and a long silver medallion.  Luke leaned against the wall that held the door.

“Hello, Callista,” the woman said as she sat across from Callista.  “I’m Mon Mothma.  I’m one of the other members in the High Command of the Alliance to Restore the Republic.  We apologize for the delay in my coming here, but we were searching our records for information on your home.  I understand that you’re from a planet called Earth.”

“Yes,” Callista said anxiously.

“I’m sorry, my dear, but I’m afraid that we have no mention of that planet anywhere in our records, nor of the galaxy or system it is in.  I regret to inform you that at this time, given the lack of information we have on your planet, we are unable to bring you home.  I’m so sorry, my dear child.”

Callista’s eyes widened and she stared at the table in disbelief, tears beginning to brim her eyes.

“You are more than welcome to stay with us.  However, you cannot stay here and just sit idly by.  As you may have guessed, we are in the midst of a war – a civil war – against the tyranny of the Galactic Empire.  I’m not sure what the extent of your training in the way of fighting, or anything else, but you are welcome to stay, train, and fight with us.  Everyone here must do something to help, we cannot just be indolent.  If you do not wish to stay with us we can bring you to a planet and you can make your way from there.”

Callista nodded, still staring at the table in front of her.  She stifled a soft sob as the tears began to slowly spill over from her eyes.  She wiped at them, but more came.  Luke came over to her and put an arm around her.  He too knew what it meant to not have a home anymore.

“I’m so sorry, my dear,” Mon Mothma said.  She watched the girl across from her and felt as sorry as she could for anyone.  This poor girl was just like Princess Leia and all the others who were now refugees from Alderaan.  “You probably want to get some rest.  I’ve arranged for some quarters to be made ready for you, as well as some fresh clothes.  Tomorrow, we’ll meet to further discuss what kind of training you’ve had, and to test you to see where you would best fit amongst our ranks.”  She sighed out of pity for this girl as she stood up.  “Lieutenant Skywalker, would you please show her where those quarters are?”

“Of course, ma’am,” Luke agreed.

After Mon Mothma left the room, Luke pulled the other chair around the table to sit next to Callista, who was still quietly crying.  He put his arms around her and pulled her over to him.  She began to sob; Luke just held her.

“I’m sorry,” Callista said after a few minutes of crying, and after she had calmed down a bit.  She sat up and wiped the last few tears from her eyes and cheeks.  “I just can’t believe that I may never be able to go home.  I don’t know where I am, or how I really even got here.  I don’t know what any of this is, or what’s going on,” she rambled.

“It’s okay,” Luke assured her.  “Now that you’ve decided to join the Alliance, I can tell you a bit more about what’s going on, which I know won’t really make you feel any better, but I hope will start to help and explain a few more things.  You’re on one of the cruisers of the Rebel Fleet.  You were just on Cymoon 1, in the Imperial Weapons Factory Alpha, their main armament factory.”

Callista nodded.  “And who are _you_ exactly?”

“My name is Luke, as you already know.  Luke Skywalker.  I’m a Jedi Knight in-training, and one of the pilots in the Alliance.”

Now Callista put two and two together.  “You’re Luke Skywalker?”

“Yes.”

“You’re _Luke Skywalker_?”  Callista asked in disbelief.

“Yeah…,” Luke said, not understanding.  True, he had recently won the Alliance one of its biggest victories, but he didn’t think he was _that_ famous, not yet at least – how could word of his victory have spread to another galaxy so quickly.

“I don’t believe this.  I don’t believe this.  I must be dreaming.  That shock must still have me knocked out.” Callista closed her eyes and pinched her arm.  “Ow!”  She opened her eyes.  Nope; she was still in the same room, and Luke was still sitting next to her, staring at her puzzled.  She sighed.  “I guess I really am stuck here.  Well, at least I generally know where ‘ _here_ ’ is now.”  She thought for a moment.  _If he’s Luke, and I’m here, then that meant that the others we were with were_ – “So, if you’re Luke, then that means the others we were with are Princess Leia…and…,” She tried to remember their names.

“Han Solo.  Chewbacca.  And the droids are C-3PO and R2-D2.”

“Yes!  And that ship we were on was the _Millennium Falcon_.  Okay.”  Callista breathed out, taking this all in.  “So, I…am in the movie.  _I_ am in the _movie_.”  She took deeps breaths trying to steady herself and soak in the new realization.  “Okay.  Um…so…  Have you guys blown up the _Death Star_ yet?”

Luke was a bit surprised at what this girl suddenly knew.  “You’re going to have to explain what’s going on to me, but yes, we have.  Not that long ago, actually.”

“And that was Darth Vader that you were fighting, and Stormtroopers from the Empire.  Okay.”  She breathed deep again.  “Those little creatures on the AT-AT with us were… What is it?  Jawas?”

“Yes,” Luke said.  “Explain to me what you’re talking about with the ‘movie,’ and how you suddenly know all of this.”

“When I told General Raeh I was at home watching a movie, that movie I was watching was a movie about you.  About how Princess Leia had the stolen plans to the _Death Star_ but was taken captive by Darth Vader before she could get them safely home, so she put the plans into R2-D2 and he and C-3PO left the ship in an escape pod.  They eventually met you on the planet below when Jawas sold them to your uncle.”  She stopped.  “Your aunt and uncle.  Your home.  I’m so sorry, Luke.”

Luke looked down at the floor in sorrow, he didn’t really like to think about it.  “Thank you,” he said, as he sighed.  He waited for a moment in silence as he thought of the ones he’d lost so far but was determined not to dwell in the past.  He looked up at the girl in front of him.  “I want you to tell me more, but first, let’s get you to your quarters.”

“Yes.  Alright.  Uh… Lead the way.”

Luke led Callista out of the room and down the hallway.  They entered an elevator and took it up a couple floors then exited.  They turned down a couple more hallways, and finally Luke stopped at a door and pushed a button.  The door opened with a soft _whoosh._   The pair entered the room.

Inside there was a bunk with cabinets for storage above and below it, a personal bathroom with a shower, a desk with a chair at it next to the bunk, and a locker built into the wall next to the foot of the bunk.  Callista opened the locker and found a new set of clothes in it.  There was a tan jacket, white shirt, black pants, and black boots.  She looked down at her feet, finally realizing that the entire time she had only been wearing socks.

“We figured you could use some new boots to better protect your feet.  I just hope those ones fit, if not please let me know and I’ll take you to the Quarter Master get some new ones.”

“Thank you,” Callista said.  She looked at the small shelf at the top of the locker and saw a pile of what looked like stirps of linen or some other similar material and wondered what they were for.  She closed the locker door and sat down on the bed.

Luke pulled the chair out from the desk.  “Are you okay with telling me more about this…movie, is it?”

“Yeah.  Yeah, okay.  Um… I know this all sounds crazy, but I swear it’s the truth.  Um… You found Ben Kenobi, or Obi-Wan – whichever you want to call him – and he took you to a town, where you met Han and Chewbacca.”

“Mos Eisley,” Luke interjected.

“Mos Eisley, got it.  They took you away from the planet.  I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but what was the name of the planet?”

“Tatooine.”

“Tatooine.  Okay.  They gave you guys a ride off Tatooine, so you could try to get the plans for the _Death Star_ to Alderaan for the princess, but when you got to where the planet was supposed to be it was gone, replaced by what Han thought was an asteroid field, or something, and the _Death Star_ was there instead.  You got caught in the tractor beam and were pulled into the station.  There you found and rescued Princess Leia.  Obi-Wan went to deactivate the tractor beam, and on his way to meet back up with you all met Darth Vader.  They had a duel and Obi-Wan was killed.”  She looked at Luke.  “Oh gosh, Luke, I am so sorry.  I’m bringing up all of the horrible parts of your life, and not really in a delicate manner I’m afraid.  I’m sorry.”  She sighed, feeling terrible.  “If it’s any consolation, I lost my parents when I was little, so I can somewhat relate to what you’re feeling.”

“I’m sorry you had to lose them.  It’s never easy to lose the ones we love and care for.”  He looked at her, as she stared at her hands.  “What happened to them?  Did the Empire kill them?”

Callista chuckled slightly at his guess as to what had happened.  “No, um…the Empire doesn’t exist in my world.  None of this does, except in story.”  She gestured to everything around her.  “They were killed in a car crash.  A man had been drinking and went out driving afterwards and hit them with his truck.  Their car was sent flying into the barrier between traffic and was crushed.  The really crappy part is that that man lived.  He lived, and my parents died.”  She couldn’t help her voice cracking a bit at the end.  She stared off into the distance, her fingers subconsciously wrapping around the necklace she always wore, always trying to remember more about her parents, but always seeming to have the really important memories slip away just as she was about to grasp them.

“I’m so sorry.  That sounds terrible.”  Luke looked at her.  He couldn’t help it.  “I’m sorry, but what’s a car?”  He asked.

Callista chuckled again, her attention brought back to where she was.  “A car is, I guess, similar to a speeder, except it has wheels that it runs on, a roof that goes over you, and doors you use to get in and out, so you’re completely enclosed in it.”

Callista remembered that she had her cell phone in her pocket and it had a picture of her with her car when she first bought it.  She pulled out the phone, hoping it would still work.  She pushed the power button and it turned on.  Callista scrolled through the pictures until she found the one she was looking for.  “This is what a car looks like,” she held the phone out to Luke for him to see.

Luke took the phone and looked at the hologram.  The hologram showed a girl standing next to a black enclosed speeder – what he assumed was a car.  “This doesn’t project its holograms out?  And it’s in color?”  He asked, turning the phone over in his hand.

Callista laughed.  “No, that’s not a hologram, that’s just a picture, and yes, it’s in color.”

“Oh,” Luke said.  He looked closer at the small picture.  “Is that you in the picture?”

“Yeah.  That was when I first bought that car.  I was so proud of myself for working hard enough to be able to get it.  Eventually, some modifications were made to it to get it running faster and better.  I had to work really hard to be able to get the car and afford the modifications I wanted, but it was worth it.”

“You look beautiful,” Luke said, ignoring for the time being what she’d said about the modifications.  He cleared his throat.  “I mean, you looked nice.  I mean, you still do.  I mean…the car looks beautiful.”  His cheeks turned red.

Callista’s cheeks flushed slightly, too, and she smiled to cover the fact.  “Thank you.”  The young woman held her hand out for Luke to give her back the phone, which she set on the small table next to the bunk.

Luke flashed back to reality, trying to cover his embarrassing moment.  “Uh, you said modifications were made to your…car.  Was it you that made the modifications?”

“Yes, I made them myself.  I’m a bit of a grease monkey, as some people call it.  I have always loved tinkering around in engines and with machines, it helps me to relax and lose myself for a while.  I sometimes think I remember working on an engine with my dad when I was little, so I think that’s probably why.”

“Hm…,” Luke thought.  “Would you use this car after you made the modifications?”

“Oh, yes.  I would quite often race it, and eventually got so good that I actually won several cars and was able to sell them or use them for racing instead using of my beauty, _Midnight_ , so much, and eventually I was even able to buy another car to use for going to school and everywhere else.”

“Was that the name of your car?  _Midnight?_ ”

“Yeah.  I’ll miss her.”  Callista still couldn’t believe that this wasn’t all just a dream.  She tried pinching herself again, discretely so Luke couldn’t see, just for the heck of it, but it still didn’t work.  She slumped her shoulders a bit.

“So, I know that you already know about the destruction of the _Death Star_ , so I’m assuming that that was in this ‘movie.’  What else was in it?”

“I saw the destruction of Alderaan.  Your escape from the _Death Star_ to the Rebel base, and the battle, of course.  The movie ended with the ceremony where Princess Leia awarded you and Han with medals.  I just never thought that all of this could actually be true.”

Callista yawned and blinked her eyes.  The exhaustion from the days’ events was finally setting in.

Luke watched her, his head slightly cocked.  It hadn’t even occurred to him that she must be so emotionally exhausted still.

“Oh, I’m sorry.  I’m just a little tired,” Callista explained.

Luke cleared his throat.  “Yes, I would imagine so, it – it is getting late,” Luke stammered as he started to stand and put the chair back at the desk.  “I’m sorry if I’ve stayed too long.”

“No, you’re fine, Luke.  Don’t even worry about it.”  She waved off his concern.

“Would you be willing to meet again tomorrow and talk some more?  There’s so much that I would like to ask you.”

“Sure.  Yeah, that would be fine.  I have a lot to ask, as well.”

“Okay.  Great.”  Luke smiled.  “Um, this is the control to open the door,” he pointed to a button on a control pad next to the door on the wall, “this is the control to engage the privacy lock,” he pointed to another button on the control panel, “and, um…my room is just a couple doors down that way” – he gestured to his right – “if you need anything.  Um…goodnight, Callista.”

“Goodnight, Luke,” Callista said, smiling drowsily.

Luke opened the door and began to step out, then stopped realizing he had forgotten something.

“Oh,” he said reaching into his pocket.  “This is yours.”  He handed her her pocket knife.

“Oh, thank you,” Callista said as she accepted it from him.  She clutched it in her hands and held it to her chest.  “Thank you.”

“That must be really important, huh?”

“Yes.  It’s the last thing of my father’s that I have really,” Callista said, still clutching the small knife in her hands.

Luke nodded.  “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Luke.”

Callista stood up after Luke left and walked to the bathroom.  She filled the sink with some water and splashed it on her face.  _So much to take in and absorb_ , she thought.

The young woman went back out into the main room and reopened the locker to see if there was anything to sleep in – nothing but a jacket, shirt and pants, obviously meant for daytime activities.

“Well, I guess I’ll just sleep in my clothes.”

She flipped the control next to her bed to turn out the lights and laid on her bed for a while, thinking.  Would she ever see her home again?  Would she ever have all the answers as to how she got here?  Maybe in the morning she’ll wake up in her own bed and this really will all have just been a dream.  She laid on the bed, lost in thought and fiddling with the crystal necklace she’d been given by her mother when she was a little girl.  _Oh, Mom, what do I do?  I wish you were here_.

**Author's Note:**

> What did you guys think? Please leave me comments, and let me know if you want me to keep going. I'm also looking for a good title the series of which this book will be a part of.


End file.
